Plotter.



C. Ce BUCHANAN.

PLOTTER.

APPLICATION men NOV. 1a. 1913.

Patentefi June 8, 1915.

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STAEN CLINTON C. BUCHANAN, F BARTOW, FLORIDA, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-THIRD TO JOHN J.

JBOYNTOIT AND ONE-THIRD TO SOLON WILSON, BOTH OF BARTOW,

v rno'rrnn.

Specification of Letters Patent Application filed November 18, 1913. Serial No.'801,712.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLINTON C. BU- oi-IANAN, a citizen of the United States, re siding at Bartow, in the county of Polk and State of Florida, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Plotters; and I do declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. I a v This invention relates to drafting, and more especially to plotters; and the ob]ect of the same is to produce an instrument adapted more particularlyv for use in drawing the outline of plots of ground such as farms, lots, etc., on large sheets of pa r, which latter may or may not be inscrl ed with lines indicating townships, sections, etc.

The invention comprises a drawing board,

a ruler movable thereover in directions at right anglesto each other, a protractor movably mounted within the ruler, and wings or straight-edges carried by said protractor and against which lines can be drawn at any desired angle.

Details of the invention will be found in the following specification and are shown in the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 is a lan view of this invention. Figs. 2, 3, and are sectlonal vlews on the lines 22, 33, and 44 respectively of.

Fig. 1 Fig. 5 is a detail pf the protractor and its wings taken on about the line 55 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 6 is a plan view of a slightly modified form of 'protractor.

In the'drawin'gs the numeral 1 designates a baseboard, 2 and 3 are side strips, and 4 is a lower edge strip secured to the face of the board and chamfered 'orrecessed along their'inner lower corners as at 5 so that they overhang the face of the heard as seen in the sectional view, the upper inner corners of the side strips being cut away as at 6.

7 is an upper or guide strip connecting the side strips 2 and 3 near their upper ends but below their cut-away'corners 6, and this upper strip is sustained at a slight distance abovethe'face of the board to correspond with the grooves or recesses 5 as shown. This construction permits a piece of aper P to be slipped over the face of the oard between the corners 6, under the strip 7, and along the grooves within the other three loi'd, marked with s Movablg strips so that it will closely overlie the board and cannot become displaced. Upon the faces of the four strips which form a frame around the sight of the board, are secured strips 8 which are preferably of cellugraduations 9 along their inner edges; I

The numeral 10 designates a ruler preferably having graduations 11 along both its edges, and each end of this ruler is recessed or chamfered as at 12 along its under side so that it will overhang the slde strips 2and 3 or the upper and lower strips 4: a'nd,7, and the shoulders 13 will fit closely but slidably against the inner edges of either pair of strips so that the ruler is maintained ever in a position with. both its edges para'llel with the inner edges of one pair of strips and at strict right angles to the inner edges of the other pair. The overhanging ends 14 of the ruler slide on the celluloid face plates or strips 8'whose graduations may be readas a guide fomsetting the ruler, and the grad'uations 11 along either edge ofthe ruler itself may be read as a guide for finding any transverse point on the paper P between thestri s 8. Where the paperis inscribed with fitint lines as often employed toindi-cate quarter, sections and their sub divisions, the graduations on the framestrips and on the edges'of the ruler should correspond, although obviously this is not absolutel necessary, asthe graduations may be in inc es and fractions thereof or on the metric system without departing fromthe spirit of my invention. The ruler is made up of a body portion 16 which may be of metal, dropped at its center to produce the shoulders 13, and yet whose lower face does not contact with the paper when its ends 14 reston the side strips 8; and a celluloid face 17 overlying and spaced from said body'portion between theends of the'latter and inscribed with the graduationsll referred to. Through the body and the face late of the ruler is formed a longitudinal s ot'18. disposed within the ruler between its 20 which is by preference formed in the shape of a metal disk whose diameter e uals the width of said ruler and is inscribe around its edge; with graduations 21 as usual, and

an integral wing 22 projects from one side of this protractor, one edge 23 of the wing being tangential to the protractor body and mg-gedge 24 of the firstmentioned wing 22. The" construction is such that the wing (01' Wings) may be housed entirely within the ruler-as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 1, or the protractor may be turned on its center so that the wing projects beyond either-edge of the ruler and may be set at the desired angle thereto. Rising rigidly from the center of the protractor is a stem having a threaded body and its upper end preferably made square or annular as at 26 to receive a knob 27 which may be held in place by any suitable means such as a screw 28; and on the shank of this stem is screwed a' nut 29 which may be set down tight against the face '35 With this detaile when the nut is loosened the .knob 27 may. g

i so

set to any desired- ,angle to plate 17 'of the ruler .to hold, the protractor.

after the latter has been adjusted. Loosely mounted 'on thethreaded portion of the 'stem 25 is a block 30 which projects upward into the slot in the face plate beneath the nut 29 although not sufficiently far to make con-,

tact with the nut when the latter is screwed .down'onto thecelluloid and this block carries an integral finger'for index 31 which projects toward one edge of the ruler ,and closely underlies-"the celluloid while it overlies the face of the protractor 20 and its tip coa'cts with the raduations 21* thereon. construction of parts,

be grasped'td-rotate the protractor and its wing or wings so that itsgraduationspass under the tipof the index and either. edge 23 or 24 maybe set at any desired angle to the horizontal line indicated by the up er or lower edge. of the ruler; or when the cr is turned one-quarter way over the face of the board '1, its edgesiwill'beuprightor vertical to the eye, and the protractor may be them;

The operation orfuse of this device "is as follows: A sheet of card or paper P-is slipped over the face of the board 1 by passing it under the-upper strip-7' and-sliding it along the grooves 5 in thesidestrips 2 'and' 3, andfwhen .it comes to rest in :the groove in the'lower stripe it willbe accumargin. in which there isyno drawing. The ruler 10 is then laid'over'. the heard with. its

. ends 14; resting on-an opposite pair of strips,,; 1 .and-whenmoved along-said strips the graduations on thelatter canbe read to find theexact position of eitheredge ofthe ruler.

Reading the graduations -11 along this edge.

rately centered within the frame above re' ferred to. In fact the paper may be printed with a square outline indicating the sight 2} and what remains may well constitute a of-the' ruler, the operator can then find his exact position at any point over the face tical, he may usethe ruler, disposing the same as seen in Fig. 1 when he desires to draw horizontal lines and turning it to an upright position when he desires to draw vertical lines. Or it is obvious that he may use asmalltriangle such as ordinarily employed by draftsmen and rest the base of the same against one edge of the ruler so that the other edges of the triangle may be employed for drawing on the paper. This is the common practice and needs no illus tration. But with the use of the protractor above described it is quite possible to turn the same so that the user may work against eitheredge 23 or 24 of its wing, and by setting the graduations 21 of the protractor under the index 31, either of-said edges may be disposed at the proper angle to either straight edge of the ruler. Therefore the protractor itself may be employed for drawin vertical lines, whilethe edges of the ru er may be employed for drawing horizontal lines. Ordinarily the boundary lines of farms and lots ,follow'vertieal and horias I zontal lines on the sheet P, although in some communities where a\ large tract has been subdivided, the farmsiflots, or smaller divisions of the large tract will often follow the eneral outline of the boundaries of said tract smthat if the latter stood oblique to a vertical and horizontal, the boundary lines of u all the sub-divisions would doubtless stand on the same angle. In this case, having once 'set the protractor with either of .its

mged protractor showninFig. 6 is the same as that of the single-wingedprotractor illustrated in Fig. 1, excepting that with two wingsv parallel lines can be more quickly found and a longer diametric line can bedrawn along the edges .241 and 24=',. pWith thesingle wing, however,

lines can be drawn nearer to the inner edges of the frame. In Fig. 1 of the drawings I have designated the outline of-a farm as indicated at F, whereof'the-side lines stand horizontal. The last-named lines can obviously be drawn with either edge of the ruler, whereas the side lines would have'to be found by meansvof the protractor; Itis quite possible that the graduationsalong the "at'ab'out 20 from a vertical line-whereas "the north andsouth end lines are strictly .of the protractor-couldbe marked with figures-to designate distances, and the result would be that in drawing or plotting farms,

- lots, or other tracts of land, the draftsman would not then need a ruler toizmeasure-the length of any line becau se.the, edge over which'he was drawing that line would be, suflicient.

I do not wish to be limited to the materials or proportions of parts, and changes in, details may be made without departing from the spirit ofimy invention.

7 What is claimed as new is: j

1. In a plotter, the combination with a drawing board havingparallel strips along its sides; of a ruler movably mounted over the board and fitting slidablybetween said strips, its body being longitudinally slotted, a block slidably mounted in said slot and having an index, a rotractor pivotally mounted on said bloc and having graduations ada ted to coact with said index, and a wing pro ectingfrom said protractor, one edge of the former being radial and the other tangential to said protractor.

'2. In a plotter, the combination with a drawing board having parallel strips along its sides; of a ruler movably mounted over the board and fitting slidably-between said strips, its body being longitudinally. slotted,

' a block slidably mounted in said slot and having an index, a protractor pivotally mounted on said block and having gradue ations'adapted to coact with said index, and a pair of wings projecting from opposite sides of said protractor, one edge of each wing being radial and the other tangential to the protractor.

,3. In a plotter, the combination with a drawing board having parallel strips along its sides; of a ruler movably mounted over the board and fitting slidably between said strips, the ruler having a body and an overlying transparent face plate, the latter provided with a longitudinal slot, a block overlying the body and projecting partway into said slot, a rigid index carrie by said blockbetween said body and face plateand standing on a line at right angles to the length of said slot, a protractor disposed above said body and beneath said block and index and having a circular row of graduations coac'ting with the tip of the index, a stem rising rigidly from the axis of said protractor and passing loosely through said block and slot and having a knob at its u per end, and means for holding said stem ai ter the protractor has been set. j v

4, In a plotter, the combination with a I drawing board having raised strips along its edges, of a ruler comprising a body dropped at its center so as to produce outwardly facing shoulders which slide against was? the inner edges of said strip and projecting plate overlyingthe dropped portion of the ruler and having therein a longitudinal slot, a; protractor rotatable intermediate said face plate and dropped portion of the ruler, an index disposed immediately above the protractor for cooperation with the latter, said index having a portion thereof projecting partway intosaid slot substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. In a plotter, the combination with a drawing board, raised strips along three sides of the same cut away at their inner lower corners, a strip 'along the remaining side of the board and raised above the face of the latter, the upper inner corners of the side strips being cut away above the lastnamed strip, transparent face plates on all said strips, and graduations on the face plates; of a ruler having a dropped center and projecting ends adapted ,to overlie a pair of said celluloid face plates, for the purpose set forth.

6. In a plotter, the combination with a drawing board having parallel strips along its sides; of a ruler movably mounted over the board and fitting slidably between said strips, the ruler having a body, and an overlying transparent face plate, a protractor rotatably mounted intermediate the plate and said body, an index disposed above said rotractor, means to retain the former in xed relation to a predetermined point on the latter, a wing projecting from said protractor, one edge of said wing being radial and the other tangential to said protractor, and means for rotating the latter.

' 7. In a plotter, the combination with a drawing board having parallel strips along its sides; of a ruler movably mounted over the board and fitting slidably between said strips, the ruler having a body, and an overlying transparent face plate, a protractor rotatably mounted intermediate the plateand said body, an index disposed above said protractor, means to retain the former in fixed relation to a redetermined point on the latter, a pair 0? Wings projecting on opposite sides of the protractor, one edge of each wing lying transparent face plate, a protractor mounted intermediate the 'plate rotatabl and. sai. body, said protractor having a diameter corresponding to the width of said" plate and said body, a 'wlng pI'O] 3Gtl?T:g from 7 said protractor one edge of said wing being radial and the other tangential to SH-1d pro tractor,means to rotate the latter and incidentally to house the wing thereon between said plate and'said body, an'index disposed immediately above said protractor in fixed relation to a predetermined point thereon and means for maintaining said protractor Witnesses: i

maintain said index in fixed relation to a' predetermined point on the protractor, a wing" projecting from said .protractor, one

edge of said Wing being radial and the other tangential-to said .protractor, and means for rotating the latter.

I In testimony whereof .I have h' reunto set my hand in presenceof N. L. CoLLAMnR, C.E.H1m'r.

two subseribing'wit- I CLINTON BUCHANAN; 

